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SALT OF THE EARTH
"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." Matthew 5:13 |
Since genuine salt, by itself, can never lose its flavor as its chemical properties do not change, this saying in Matthew becomes difficult to understand. Under what circumstances could salt lose its flavor?
Salt is a compound of sodium (Na), an unstable metal that is highly flammable, and chloride (Cl), a lethal gas. When salt is exposed to extreme heat, these elements are released - producing an environment that causes heat retention. Those who know their way around cooking techniques know that salt added to water makes the water boil at a higher temperature, thus reducing cooking time.
The background of the saying Jesus referred to goes to the use of salt blocks by mid-east bakers of the time to line the floor of their ovens to make the fire hotter. Under the intense heat of the oven fire, these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally becoming unserviceable. At that point, they would be crushed and thrown out with their only usefulness defined as covering for the roadways that were heavily walked upon.
This verse comes immediately on the heels of the Sermon on the Mount that begins the chapter in Matthew 5, (often referred to as the Beatitudes) where Jesus describes the makeup of the spirit that we are to exemplify as believers - the "chemical composition", if you will, of those who long for God.
"And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them (His disciples), saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
We see, then, that just as it is possible for salt to lose its flavor by having its core nature changed in the fire, the only place where we, as believers, can lose our flavor is also in the fire. What sets us apart from salt is that, since as believers (notice that He was speaking to His disciples - not the multitude as has been portrayed in various circles) we have already embraced the nature of God, we have the ability to choose how we respond while in the fire. Salt has no choice in how it reacts to extremes - we do. Jesus is saying to not allow our composition to change when we find ourselves in the middle of extreme circumstances. If we choose to be humble and meek in the face of pride and hatred, if we choose to remain pure in the face of evil, if we choose to make peace in the face of contention, and if we hunger and thirst for His righteousness in the middle of all that is calling for our attention otherwise; then we are manifesting the true nature of the Risen One who lives within us.
Every one of the Beatitudes listed above describes how we should respond to the external from within. The last involves persecution. It is amusing to think that when true persecution comes upon us, the qualities listed above will somehow just rise from within us to be exhibited toward perfect strangers when they have yet to be exercised by us toward those whom we love and are in the closest proximity to us right now.
"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Matthew 3:11.
A friend of mine became involved in the ancient art of blacksmithing a while back. I watched him fashion a piece of metal that he was making into a sword. Beginning with this ugly bar of raw steel, he pumped the bellows on the coals in the fire pit until they became white hot, after which he plunged this metal bar deep in between the recesses of the coals. He continued pumping on the bellows. Once the ingot had become as white as the coals, he grabbed the protruding end with some large tongs, laid it on an anvil and began to pound it mercilessly with a hand-held sledge hammer until the heat had obviously receded from it. He then plunged the misshaped metal bar into a bucket of water that was on the floor and left it hissing there for a few minutes until it had sufficiently cooled. Grabbing the steel bar once again, he informed me that to temper steel (one of the hardest substances known to man) it must go through this entire process I had just witnessed at least seven times. As I watched it being forced into the fire again and again, with its shape noticeably refined and sculpted each time it emerged, culminating into this beautiful object that, once polished and sharpened, became an immaculate piece of craftsmanship; I could not help but to be reminded of the admonition of the apostle Peter:
"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy." I Peter 4:12-13.
Hebrews 5:8 says that Jesus, our example, learned obedience to the Father by the things which he suffered. Our natural, human inclination is to recoil from the heat of the fire because it is not pleasant and is uncomfortable; but, in so doing, we extract ourselves from the very process that God uses to fashion us, to shape us and to mold us into His image. It is in the extremes that we learn of His nature. If we choose to exhibit His nature in the extremes then the power of God is unleashed within us to temper us to withstand and, in the midst of the fire, to be a flavor to the rest of the world.